The Republic of Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to the United States of America Erlan Idrissov will co-host with the U.S. Department of Defense a signing ceremony to extend the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Agreement between the United States of America and the Republic of Kazakhstan on Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007, at 6:30 p.m. EST at the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 1401 16th Street NW, Washington, D.C.
The agreement, which had been signed earlier by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, will be finalized by Idrissov at the event Thursday evening with Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Security Affairs, Joe Benkert in attendance for the Defense Department.
The event will mark the 14th anniversary of CTR Nunn-Lugar partnership between the Republic of Kazakhstan and the United States to combat the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Since 1993, the two governments have worked closely to address the Soviet WMD legacy in Kazakhstan and to address the evolving WMD terrorist threat. Historic achievements include the Republic of Kazakhstan’s becoming a nuclear weapons free state; destruction of the largest anthrax weapon production facility; sealing of former nuclear weapons testing tunnels; and initiation of biosecurity and biosurveillance efforts.
Media interested in attending this event may contact Zhanbolat Ussenov, the assistant to the ambassador and third secretary for press, at the Republic of Kazakhstan Embassy at (202)232-5488 (ext 104).
